Caroline May

The Department of Health and Human Services has finalized the policies governing state health care exchanges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and with it the rules governing abortion coverage under the new law.

Life News reports that “the concern pro-life organizations had about the ObamaCare legislation funding abortions has been confirmed.”

Indeed pro-lifers have long known that the health care law, specifically Section 1303, would require enrollees in the health care exchanges to pay a separate monthly surcharge for abortion coverage.

With the final HHS rules set in stone, the surcharge is a dollar.

“We knew it would be there because of the law but they have confirmed now with their final rule that it will be a one dollar surcharge,” a pro-life House staffer told The Daily Caller.

“In all likelihood a lot of people are going to be purchasing a plan and if they are not paying attention when they purchase they are going to be paying a dollar a month surcharge for a service they are never going to use or want to use,” the staffer added. “Really it boils down to an accounting gimmick anyway.”

Pro-lifers are predictably not pleased.

“Obamacare nearly collapsed under the allegations that the law would use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions. Because of a useless executive order, which was supposed to forbid tax dollars from paying for abortions, that swayed self-professed pro-life Members of Congress to vote for the monstrosity, the bill passed,” Kristan Hawkins, executive director of Students for Life of America, told TheDC.

“Now final rules from HHS could not be clearer: taxpayers, whether they are pro-life or pro-choice, will certainly be paying for abortions,” said Hawkins.

The rules go into effect in 2014. The Office of Personnel Management will set specific standards for multi-state plans in future rule making, Life News reports.